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Last week in Denver, several dozen remodelers who attended the Green Building Conference gathered to hear two remodelers share their efforts to remodel green. They were not disappointed.
Judging by the response during the question-and-answer session, and afterward huddled around the speaker’s table, green remodeling is more that another marketing angle to play up with the consumer. Tom Kelly, CR, president of Neil Kelly Designers/Remodelers in Portland, Ore., recounted how his company has been doing job-site recycling and the like for many years. But it wasn’t until he encountered The Natural Step that Kelly found the inspiration and direction to change the corporate culture.
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"There’s no question in my mind that [the way we handle the environment] will be our generation’s legacy to our children and their children," Kelly said.
Kelly’s strategy for changing the culture was five-fold. First, the company had done it a number of times before, so he knew the culture could be changed. After that, it was a matter of building the commitment to change from the top down, so everyone in the company recognized top management’s desire to make the shift.
The time commitment has to be recognized, too. "You don’t just change an organization overnight," Kelly says. "It’s a move from point A to point Z." For some of the past culture changes Kelly had to go through, five years were needed. Expect and be prepared to take the time, he says. Then, patience and planning will round out the process.
The other speaker last week was Scot Shapiro, CGR, of Creative Construction in Albuquerque, N.M. Shapiro did the first Green Remodeling Project in that city. The client’s response, Shapiro said, was "If it’s not going to cost me any more money, and there won’t be any tree-huggers, fine."
"The client didn’t really care about it," Shapiro said. He spent the rest of his presentation highlighting the various things his company does as a matter of course to be environmentally conscious:
Would you like to purchase these books?
Green Building Resource Guide
by John Hermanson
Building Green in a Black and White World
by David Robert Johnston
Environmental Building News Product Catalog
Sustainable Building Technical Manual
Builder’s Guide for Hot-Dry and Mixed-Dry Climates
Rod Sutton is the Editor-in-Chief for Professional Remodler. Please email him with any comments or questions regarding his column.
Also see:
Green Cabinets Win for Remodeler
Personal interest transcends the promotional value of remodeling with an environmental conscience